123REG Taking Liberties with your .uk domain registration rights

[DaveBeasley]

Just had some emails from Nominet informing that 3 x .uk domains had been regged relating to .co.uk domains I own. As far as I was concerned regging .uk was my sole right until 2019, seems not....!

Interfering 123reg have taken it upon themselves to 'assist' customers by starting to register the .uk versions of names in your control panel. When confronted about it; I'm told its a free service to have your .uk names regged for you, oh, BTW, they'll also auto renew unless you remember to opt-out

I've complained to Nominet about this sneaky practice

Nearly forgot, they don't even have the decency to register them in your details, they reg them to some 'Identity Protect' company

 

[ian]

Hmmm, Nominet will do nothing, 123-Reg are too important to them!

 

[philiporchard]

Yes, I've had a few emails too.
Surely that's not acceptable.

 

[RobM]

Can you tag change them? Free registration.

 

[Nigel]

can't believe they would stoop so low to do this - so I assume they've given you 3 .uk domains with renewal dates of October 2018. So what happens then? are they going to renew it for free for you? do you have to pay for renewal? or do they drop and someone snaps up your 3 domains well before the June 2019 deadline that nominet gave for existing .co.uk holders? Robs tag change idea sounds the best route if nominet don't act fast on this one - assuming you can change the tags for free.

 

[Systreg]

That's wrong on a lot of levels, where do they dream this shit up from, it needs stamping on by Nominet.

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[simondooner]

This is an incredibly disturbing abuse of power. How can a third party exercise MY RIGHTS to register a domain name without MY permission? Ultra vires.

In the same way, what other rights do they believe they can exercise over my domains? Can they transfer domains to someone else without my permission, cancel or transfer them. Where does it all stop?

My confidence in Nominets ability to protect my domains has been shaken to the core.

I have raised the question with them (Nominet) and await their answer.

 

[RobM]

I doubt nominet will do anything as it seemed clear to me that the price rise and introduction of an unnecessary extension was exactly to benefit hosteurope, 123reg, etc. This is now just a logical extension of the roadmap - we had price increases above and beyond the price hike already. I guess they are hoping you'll forget to delete auto-renew until after they've taken your money. If they had introduced this option with auto-renew off I could maybe understand their 'kindness' but they'll make a lot of money initially.

 

[anthony]

Ha, and all that so called 'more secure .uk' bollocks that was cited for .uk too. Don't hold your breath that Nominet will do anything about this, because frankly it shouldn't have happened in the first place!

 

[Lovekraft]

Webfusion who own 123-Reg and also Domainmonster truly are an awful outfit but this is something else.

This is surely illegal? Those .uk's are ONLY for you to register should you choose to. And yes if you want to save them from being caught before June 2019 you now have to pay for a renewal well before then thanks to this.

It's also wrong that they automatically enable auto renew on these, you didn't ask for them.

If Nominet do nothing about this then it really shows where their interests really are and have been for some time now.

 

[martin-s]

Quoted from elsewhere:

Subject: Important - We have taken action to protect your business' domain names

We are giving you your .uk domains free for 2 years
View them and opt out from your 123 Reg control panel

Dear

We are in the process of securing some .uk domains for you - log in to your control panel to see which ones. They will be available to manage from November 2017. These domains are absolutely free of charge for 2 years.

Why am I being given FREE domain names?
As you own .co.uk domain names, you are entitled to their .uk counterparts until June 2019. After this time, anyone can register these domains and compete with your business.

A 123 Reg customer poll showed that 90% of you do not want to risk losing your .uk domains to a competitor and expect 123 Reg to do something about this - so we listened to you and have taken action to ensure your domains are secure for the next 2 years.

What if I don't want my free domain names?
Easy! If you do NOT want your .uk domains free for 2 years, you can opt out straight from your control panel.

However, please be aware that this is a limited time offer expiring 9th October 2017, and if you haven’t purchased the .uk domains, from June 2019 anyone else will be able to - including other businesses competing for your customers.

What if my .co.uk domain names are set to expire?
If one or more of your .co.uk domains are set to expire, unless you confirm opt in, you will still receive the .uk counterparts, but unless you confirm opt in, they will not default to auto-renew. You can change this at any point through the control panel if you decide you want to keep them after the 2 year period.

Next Steps
Head to your 123 Reg control panel to confirm opt in or to opt out. If you don’t opt out, your free .uk domains will be ready to use in November - don’t worry, we’ll send you an email to provide you with instructions on how to manage them.

Once the 2 years are up, you will be able to renew them at the standard .uk price unless you have decided to cancel them.

If there's anything else you need to know, this blog post will answer any questions you may have.

 

[Adam H]

Surely that means the domains are not considered separate entities if they are being "gifted" to protect a brand. If they are not separate entities it just shows its a money grab making businesses pay for 2 domains.

 

[Systreg]

A 123 Reg customer poll showed that 90% of you do not want to risk losing your .uk domains to a competitor and expect 123 Reg to do something about this - so we listened to you and have taken action to ensure your domains are secure for the next 2 years.

Errr, so if a business is so worried about losing their .uk, why didn't they register it instead of taking part in a poll, fecking stupid.

 

[anthony]

Looks to me that people are being rolled into contracts without their expressed permission. A quick call to Trading Standards by those affected needs to be done me thinks!

Opt Out does not equal Opt In!

 

[martin-s]

Have you considered the flip side of the coin from a registrar's perspective? What if you didn't register the names, they expired and were picked up by someone else?

There aren't many legit winners in any scenario.

 

[RobM]

What if you didn't register the names, they expired and were picked up by someone else?

How can they expire if you didn't register them? A registrar should never be registering domains on the offchance that a client *might* want them. Even worse is then charging them for that without their permission. The 'flip side' is normal functioning business practice. If a client wants a domain he registers it. If he doesn't he doesn't. The end.

 

[martin-s]

The RoR expires. It's an enormous mess in waiting, whatever happens!

 

[RobM]

Agree that it's silly and pointless. However 123reg are doing what no other registrar is doing - not only are they registering a domain where *they* don't have the RoR they are hiding the identity of the owner and then hoping to sneaky charge them at renewal. I wonder what would happen if there was a legal dispute on one of the domains they registered without permission - would they be the ones going to court and paying legal fees.... I think we all know the answer to this.
Now nominet either have to stop this or just openly admit that it's a free for all and allow all other registrars to engage in the same practice. This of course would mean that their rules mean squat and I suppose we'd all be free to break them wherever we see fit.

 

[Edwin]

Yet another reason to get your own tag if your volume is even close to making it a break-even choice.

 

[dragon]

123-reg keep popping up time and time again with mainly complaints, and now this! I'll never use them!